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Standard 4: Element 3

Standard Four: Diversity

The Pacific College of Education strives to ensure that all teacher candidates are prepared to work with diverse student populations that are characteristic of the state and region. The Pacific University community is one of belonging, respect and recognition of individual worth, whose members share a joint commitment to goals and to one another. The College of Education’s faculty uniformly shares a strong commitment to issues of diversity and continually strives to work toward cultural competence.

Element Three: Experiences Working with Diverse Candidates

In their university, professional education courses, and in the P-12 schools, candidates interact and work with other candidates having diverse characteristics and backgrounds. The table presents the diversity statistics for teacher education candidates for 2006-07.

Table 4.3.1Student and Candidate Demographics, 2006-07

White

Black

Hispanic

Asian/ Pacific Islander

Amer. Indian/ Alaskan Native

Multi-Ethnic

Unknown

Total

Total Minority

STATE OF OREGON P-12 STUDENTS

396,102
70.40%

16,811
3.00%

90,363
16.10%

25,847
4.60%

11,994
2.10%

10,444
1.90%

11,267
2.00%

562,828

155,459
27.60%

Pacific University

1929
69.14%

29
1.04%

96
3.44%

426
15.27%

25
0.86%

N/A

286
10.25%

2790

576
20.65%

Candidates in ITP Programs

204
73.4%

2
0.72%

6
2.16%

13
4.68%

4
1.43

N/A

49
17.63%

278

25
9.00%

Candidates in Adv. Programs

28
75.68%

0

0

0

1
2.70%

N/A

8
21.62%

37

1
2.70%

Progress Toward the State's Goal

The goal of the State of Oregon, as stated in the Minority Teacher Act of 1991, was that by the year 2001, the number of minority teachers, including administrators, employed by school districts and education service districts shall be approximately proportionate to the number of minority children enrolled in the public schools of this state. Findings from the 1991 Oregon 10-year Minority Teacher Report (pdf) conclude that the state has not met its goal in 2001 – nor, unfortunately, is it likely to any time soon. The number of minority teachers, including administrators, employed by school districts and education service districts, was only 4.1%, falling well short of the proportion of minority children enrolled in the public schools of Oregon at 19.3%. While there have been recent increases in the production of minority educators by the institutions of higher education which prepare teachers, these increases have not kept pace (nor it appears can keep pace) with the increasing school-age minority population (i.e., the school-age population is growing at a much faster rate than the production and subsequent employment of new minority educators). A "comparison snapshot" – pipeline to employed – is provided below:

Minorities in the Pipeline Constitute --

19.3% K-12 population in Oregon public schools

11.7% public high school graduates

12.3% community college enrollments in lower-division collegiate courses

8.5% new educators issued license from TSPC who completed Oregon programs: 9.7% from public universities; 7.2% from independent universities

Scholarship Support For Candidate Recruitment

Another major effort used to recruit a diverse group of candidates is through our scholarship program. In distributing these scholarships the COE puts a high priority on providing resources to attract diverse candidates to teaching, even when the scholarship is not specified for that purpose. Among the various scholarships offered are:

Eaton Endowed Education Scholarship – available to minority MAT students who demonstrate need.